Three EPA air quality monitors out of order

LAHORE:As smog season is approaching, three air quality monitors of Punjab Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are out of order, The News has learnt.

Sources in EPA revealed six air quality monitoring stations are present in the provincial metropolis out of which five are fixed stations and one is mobile monitoring station. The fixed stations are installed in Township, Met office, EPA Head office at Qaddafi Stadium, Town Hall and Ghurki Hospital in Wahgah Town area.

Sources said air quality monitors installed at EPA head office, Wagah and Met office are out of order while the stations at Township and Town Hall are working. The mobile air quality unit is also working, sources said.

The most important thing, the sources revealed is that none of the five fixed installed air quality monitors has the ability to measure the parameter of PM 2.5, which is the basic cause of smog in the provincial capital. However, the mobile air quality monitoring unit is being able to collect the data of PM 2.5. Sources said the out of order stations are not working because of petty issues such as air-conditioning unit of the monitor installed at EPA head office is not working, the electricity connection of the air quality monitor installed at Met office is not stable due to frequent tripping it restarted again and again so it was closed down while the internet connection charges of these mobile air quality units are also unpaid. Sources said the government allocated only Rs40,000 per year for repair and maintenance to the EPA’s laboratory section, which is not enough. They said the annual repair and operating cost of each monitor is in millions but the government didn’t allocate any funds in this regard.

On the other hand, as the smog season is near, Chairman Judicial Water and Environmental Commission Justice (retd) Ali Akbar Qureshi held a meeting on smog prevention here on Thursday. The meeting was attended by newly-appointed Secretary Environment Syed Mubashir Hussain. Justice (retd) Ali Akbar Qureshi directed the EPD to be proactive in controlling smog. He said teams should be made to prevent smog. He said the teams should also ensure that all kilns were converted to Zigzag technology. The commission also passed instructions for taking strict action against smoke-emitting vehicles. It was decided to take action against industries that burn crop residues and cause air pollution. No negligence or omission will be tolerated with regard to smog, Ali Akbar Qureshi said.

During the meeting, Managing Director Wasa told the commission that he has already instructed his team to stop using heavy machinery from October 15, 2021. He said all Wasa staff was directed to come to office on bicycles one day a week from October 31, 2021.

When contacted, the newly-appointed secretary EPD didn’t attend the call and no reply was received from his side. The News then talked to EPA’s Lahore Laboratory head Farooq Alam who said that his duty was to monitor air quality and issue data to the department head. He said implementation of smog SOPs was not his work.

He said he took charge of his office on June 22, 2021 and since then he started repair of the closed stations and brought two of them to work. He said the remaining stations will also be in working condition soon. To a question about the air quality data issued by private companies and individuals, he said the data of any individual or company was not reliable. He said the media should only rely on the official data released by EPA during smog. Meanwhile, Minister for EPD M Rizwan held a meeting on dengue during which he said cooperation of all stakeholders was obligatory for effective control of dengue. The minister was informed that surveillance teams were inspecting various hotspots to check the dengue larva. The meeting was informed that 27 notices were also issued while 5 FIRs also registered against relevant persons for violating of dengue prevention measures. The minister asked the department to launch campaign for dengue control through print, electronic and social media.